Fitting Fitness In Past 40

If you’re over 40 and have the desire to get in shape, the great news is that it’s definitely more than possible to make some incredibly changes to your body and really get the results that you’re looking for.

Some people make the mistake of thinking that once they hit 40, it’ll be all downhill from there and it’s just too late to make significant body composition changes.

Nothing is further from the truth! If you’re dedicated and committed, your body has the potential to change just as much as it did at an earlier age as long as you use the right program for you.

It is true that someone past the age of 40 should be making a few minor adjustments to their overall approach compared with someone who was younger, so as long as you find a plan that has been designed for those over 40, you will be right on track.

That said, one thing that many of those over 40 struggle with is finding the time to get their workouts in. Life is very busy – you likely have a full-time career you’re passionate about and may still have your kids at home with you so between that and other obligations, gym time may be hard to come by.

Fortunately, with the following quick tips this doesn’t have to stand in your way of success. If you know these strategies to make fitting in fitness easier, you can move closer to the road to success.

Let’s have a look at what you should consider.

Divide Cardio Up

The very first thing that you might want to consider doing is breaking your cardiovascular time up.

It may be trying to get into the gym for a full 45 minutes, but if you can do 15 minutes first thing in the morning to jump-start your metabolism, another 15 minutes on your lunch break (walking to get lunch is perfect here) and then 15 minutes in the evening, you’ll have met your daily quota and be right on track.

Nothing says that the cardio training all has to come together and if the truth is told, often splitting it up is even better because then you’ll get three energy boosts through the day.

Or, if you’re really short on time and at a higher fitness level already, you might consider transitioning over to interval training instead. These workouts typically only last about 15-20 minutes total, so they’ll easily fit into your day.

Just be warned they are much more intense, so you need that physical conditioning base before doing them.

Focus On Short But Intense

The next thing that you should note is that when planning your strength training workouts, always focus on making them as intense as possible

You can really cut down on the overall workout time that you spend in the gym if you’re training as intensely as possible. Many people are going about their routine, really only giving 75% or so and this really holds them back from potential results. Not to mention their long rest times increase the duration of their workouts.

Shorten those rest times and lift with so much intensity that you can only complete just a few sets. You’ll actually see far superior results by lifting in this manner and dramatically cut back on the total time that you have to spend in the gym.

If you can, try and get your weight lifting workouts so fast paced that you’re struggling to keep up your breath. If you train in this manner, you’ll see cardiovascular benefits because of them as well, therefore reducing the need to add all that cardio training in the first place.

Always Turn To Compound Movements To Make The Most Of Your Time

Now, when it comes to the actual exercises that you choose to use as part of your workout program, drop all the isolation work you’re doing.

You really won’t see all that much benefit from doing isolated exercises and all they do is drain your time. If you’re struggling to fit fitness in, you want to make the most of every second you spend in the gym.

This means choosing movements that will work multiple muscle groups at once so that you can get in and get out in no time.

The more you tilt your focus towards these, the faster you’ll get results in a shorter period of time.

Tighten Up On Your Diet

Finally, the last must-do to consider if you’re struggling to fit in fitness is to make sure that your diet is really on track.

If you are maintaining a strict low calorie diet, you can reduce back on the total volume of cardio that you must complete as you will be creating such a large deficit through the diet alone.

While you should never cut out cardio training completely as it does offer key heart health benefits that you can’t neglect, by making sure your diet is in top shape you can reduce cardio back to just a few times per week.

Especially for those over 40 diet tends to play a key role in success, so double check that you’re eating right to lose weight.

So there you have the top things to know about fitting in fitness if you’re past 40.

It definitely is possible and getting in shape doesn’t have to feel like a second par-time job. You just need the right approach that will make the most of what time you do have and then need to put in your full effort to create the changes you’re looking for.